1.语文

一年级-上册

2.数学

3.英语

一年级-下册

日语

ドラえもん

英语 自然拼读

Written by David L. Dreier 
Illustrated by Kathie Kelleher

The Apache Village 
To a twelve-year-old boy from rural Missouri, 
the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair was a spectacle
almost beyond belief. As he passed through the
entryway with his parents, young Tom Richards
gazed above him. “The Louisiana Purchase
Exposition,” he said, reading the official name of
the fair. It had been 101 years since the United
States had obtained the huge territory of Louisiana
from France.

The fair celebrated a century of
progress since that time— a century in which the
entire American continent had been settled. 
It was a warm September evening. As the sky
darkened, the fair glowed with electric light. On a
huge lagoon at the center of the fairground, boats
glided by, filled with laughing people. Tom felt as
though he was in an earthly paradise. Never had
he seen so many beckoning attractions.

“Well,” said Mr. Richards, as they walked
along a crowded promenade, “what should we
see first? How about the Palace of Machinery?”
 His wife consulted a map of the fair. “Well,
we’re closer to the Palace of Education.” Mr.
Richards shrugged. Mrs. Richards looked down
at Tom. “What do you think, Tom?”

The boy wasn’t particularly interested in either
of those suggestions. He wanted to see something
exciting. As he looked around, he spied an
attraction that caused his eyes to widen.
“There, that’s where I want to go!” he said,
pointing to a colorful entrance on the Pike where
cultures from around the world could be seen.
 “The Apache Village!”

A banner above the entrance promised,
“WILD INDIANS! Have your picture taken with
the infamous CHIEF GERONIMO—25 cents! 
Autographs just 10 cents!”
Tom’s mother was not enthused. “I think we
should see something more . . . educational,” she
said. Tom’s face dropped with disappointment.
Tom’s father stepped in to settle the
disagreement. “Listen, your mother and I will
visit the uplifting Palace of Education, and you

will go see the Apaches.” Ignoring his wife’s
disapproving glare, he handed Tom some money 
“We’ll meet you back here in an hour—eight
o’clock sharp.” Tom nodded happily, and before
there could be any further discussion on the
matter, Tom was off to the Apache Village. 
At the building’s entrance, Tom bought a
25-cent ticket and passed through the admission
gate.

Inside, there was a re-creation of an Apache
settlement. Apache men and women in full tribal
dress went about village life. In front of dome-
shaped dwellings called wickiups, the women
sewed buckskins or tended to pots of food
simmering over small fires. A few men sat on
buffalo robes making arrows, while others
groomed their horses.

Tom’s attention was drawn to one of the
wickiups on the far side of the village exhibit.
There, several dozen people were lined up at a 
small table. At the table, an old Apache man sat
writing with a pencil. Two armed guards stood
nearby.
 “Wow!” Tom exclaimed. “That must be
Geronimo!”

“It is indeed,” said a man’s voice.
Tom looked around. A well-dressed gentleman
about forty years old smiled down at the boy. On
his lapel was a badge that said, “Official Guide.” 
He extended his hand to Tom. “John Collins,”
he said. 
Tom took the man’s hand and shook it. “I’m
Tom Richards.”

“Glad to meet you, Tom. Welcome to the fair. 
How would you like to learn about Geronimo
and the history of the Apaches?” 
“Sure!” said Tom. “But I have to meet my
parents in less than an hour.” 
“Well, then,” said Mr. Collins, “I guess we’d
better get started.”

The Early Days of the Apaches 
Tom couldn’t take his eyes off Geronimo. 
“How come he has those guards standing near
him?” he asked. 
“Because he’s a prisoner of war,” said the guide.“Has been for close to twenty years now. But we’ll
get to his story in a minute. First, let’s talk about his ancestors—the early Apaches.” Mr. Collins led Tom
to a wall of illustrations and photographs. 
Mr . Collins stopped at a map of North America.

“The Apache people originally lived up in Canada. 
Then, sometime after the year 1000, they started 
moving south along the east side of the Rocky
Mountains.” He ran his finger down the map.
“By the 1400s, they were living in what is now
Texas and eastern New Mexico. They numbered
about 5,000.

“The Apaches called themselves the Inday—the
People. The name Apache comes from a Zuni Indian
word, apachu, which meant enemy. Obviously, the
Zunis didn’t care much for them, eh?” 
Mr. Collins took Tom to the next illustration. It
was a painting of some men on horseback wearing
strange-looking metal helmets and armor. 
“These are Spanish soldiers,” the guide said.

“Life started changing in a major way for the
Apaches and other native peoples when the Spanish
began settling in the Americas in the 1500s. The
Spanish brought horses with them. Indians had
never seen horses before. They were afraid of them
at first, but they soon obtained horses from the
Spaniards and became expert riders. The Apaches
were among the first native people to use horses.

“The horse transformed the lives of Indians
throughout central North America. It enabled them
to become nomads. They began to move far and
wide hunting buffaloes and other animals. Some
Apaches did a bit of farming, but most of them
were strictly hunters.”

The next illustration showed a Spanish mission.
 “Life changed in other ways, too,” Mr. Collins said.
 “Spanish settlers began moving into the Southwest
in the 1600s and establishing towns and Catholic
missions. The Apaches didn’t want the Spanish
taking their land, and they didn’t want to become
‘mission Indians.’ This was the beginning of nearly
300 years of almost continual warfare between the
Apaches and people they considered invaders.

First it was the Spanish, then the Mexicans, and finally
the Americans.” 
“Did they fight other Indians, too?” Tom asked. 
“Oh, yes,” the guide answered with a sad smile. 
“I don’t think there was ever a tribe that didn’t fight
other tribes. One of the Apaches’ main enemies was
the Comanches. In the 1700s, the Comanches in
Texas pushed many of the Apaches farther west. 
Those Apaches began settling in western New
Mexico and in Arizona.”

Goyathlay Becomes Geronimo 
There was a bright flash of light from the
opposite side of the room. Tom looked around,
startled. He saw Geronimo standing next to a
young man in front of a large camera on a tripod. 
A photographer was holding a smoking tray
mounted on a handle. 
“Flash powder,” the guide said. “Lights
everything up so you can take a picture inside.”

“I want to have my picture taken with
Geronimo,” Tom said. “I have the money.” He
pulled a quarter from his pocket and held it up. 
“Well, there’s still a line. But while you’re
waiting, let’s talk about Geronimo. We’re coming
to his part of the story now.”
 Mr . Collins led Tom to another picture.

“This shows how Geronimo might have looked as a
young man,” he said. “He was called Goyathlay,
which means ‘He Who Yawns.’ Funny name, huh? 
Not too scary. This shows him in 1858, when he
was about twenty-nine.” 
“By 1858, the Spanish were long gone,” Mr.
Collins said. “Mexico was an independent nation,
and the Southwest was made up of states and
territories of the United States. Goyathlay was a

member of the Chiricahuas (chir-ih-KAH-wuz),
a group of Apaches that lived mostly in the
territory that would become Arizona. 
“The Chiricahuas were pretty much at peace
with everyone at that time. They sometimes made
trips into Mexico to trade with the Mexicans.

On one of those trips, Goyathlay came back to
his camp and found that Mexican soldiers had
murdered his mother, wife, and three children. 
“From that moment on, Goyathlay had a
vicious hatred of Mexicans. He wanted revenge.
But he was a religious man, so he went up into
the mountains to pray and meditate.
 “As he stared up at the starry sky, Goyathlay

Apache Religion 
The Apaches believed in a god of the universe, 
whom they called Usen—the One Who Knows. They
also believed in spirits that dwelled in the mountains. 
They thought those spirits had taught their ancestors
how to live. The Apaches believed in life after death,
but Geronimo said he had no idea what the afterlife
would be like.

heard a message: No gun can ever kill you. I will take
the bullets from the guns of the Mexicans . . .” 
“That message from the Apache god, Usen, 
gave Goyathlay unlimited courage,” said Mr.
Collins. “He led bands of Apaches in frequent
raids across the Mexican border. He absolutely
terrorized the Mexican soldiers . . .”
 Tom pictured the scene in his mind:

Seeing the implacable hatred in the eyes of
the attacking Apaches, the Mexican troops dropped to
their knees and wailed, “San Geronimo! San
Geronimo!” But their cries did them no good. The
Apaches killed them without mercy. 
“San Geronimo—that’s Spanish for Saint
Jerome, their patron saint. Goyathlay took the
name for himself. He became Geronimo.”

Cochise’s War 
Mr. Collins showed Tom a picture of
another Apache leader. “This is Cochise,” he
said. “Although Geronimo was making 
a name for himself, it was Cochise who was
the chief of the Chiricahuas. And he
was keeping the peace with the Americans. 
“Then in 1861, a young army lieutenant named George Bascom 
did a really stupid thing. He accused Cochise of
a crime he didn’t commit and tried to arrest him.

Cochise escaped but was wounded. Three of
Cochise’s male relatives who were being held by
the army as hostages were hanged. 
Mr. Collins shook his head in dismay. “As
a result of that tragic incident, Cochise went on
the warpath against the Americans. For the next
ten years, his Chiricahuas attacked settlers and
wagon trains and fought battles with the United
States army.”

“The army was determined to end the Apache
uprising,” the guide related. “In 1871, the army
sent General George Crook to capture Cochise and
his warriors. General Crook was an experienced 
Indian fighter, and he was determined to capture
Cochise. But another army officer, General Oliver
Otis Howard, beat him to it.

“In September 1871, Cochise met Howard in
the mountains of Arizona. Cochise was now sixty
years old, and he was tired of fighting. He said he
would surrender if the Chiricahuas could have 
a reservation in their homeland in southeastern
Arizona. General Howard consented to that request,
and Cochise agreed to settle his people
on the reservation. So that ended Cochise’s war.”

Geronimo’s Desperate Resistance 
“Well, back to Geronimo,” said Mr. Collins. He
took Tom to another picture, this one of Geronimo 
kneeling with his rifle. “This is the Geronimo who
made Americans and Mexicans shake with fear. 
This photo was taken later in his life, after he had
been captured for the last time. But he still looked
fierce, didn’t he?”

“He sure did,” Tom agreed. 
“When Cochise surrendered to Howard, all the
Chiricahuas—including Geronimo —went to live
on the Apache reservation. It had been established
exactly where Cochise had requested. But that was
valuable land, and lots of white people wanted it. 
So what do you suppose happened?”

Tom took a guess. “The Chiricahuas got moved
someplace else.” 
“You are correct,” said the guide. “Yes, after
Cochise died in 1874, the government forced the Chiricahuas to move to the San Carlos Reservation. It
was a terrible place out in the desert.”
 Mr. Collins took out a pocket watch. “When do
you have to meet your parents?”

“At eight o’clock,” Tom said.
 “Good, you have another fifteen minutes to
spend, and we’re already nearing the end of the story.” He put the watch back in his pocket. “So—where were we? —San Carlos. Several
tribes of Apaches had been sent to that god-
forsaken reservation.

Most of them no longer had
any fight left in them. But the Chiricahuas still had plenty of fight. They decided they would rather die in battle than waste away on a dry, scorching reservation. So Geronimo and some other Chiricahua leaders escaped with their followers and returned to the mountains. That
was the start of a new round of warfare and terror.

“The army pursued the Apaches relentlessly. 
Geronimo was taken back twice to the San Carlos
Reservation, but each time he escaped.”
“So how did it finally end?” Tom asked. 
“Quietly,” said Mr. Collins. “Both the U.S. and
Mexican armies were looking for Geronimo. In
September 1886, an American general named
Nelson A. Miles cornered Geronimo and his small
band of Chiricahuas.

They found them in a place
called Skeleton Canyon in southern Arizona. 
Geronimo met with one of the general’s junior
officers, Lieutenant Charles Gatewood.” 
Tom again pictured the scene in his mind: 
Worn out from years of fighting, Geronimo laid
down his rifle and shook Lieutenant Gatewood’s hand.

He asked the lieutenant about his fellow Chiricahuas in 
other renegade bands—how were they faring? 
“The ones who have surrendered have been sent to
Florida,” said Gatewood. “And that is where you will
be sent as well. I’m sorry.”
Geronimo nodded. He knew that this was the end.
 “Geronimo and his people had fought
desperately to preserve their way of life. But they
had lost. It was his final surrender.”

Prisoners of War
“Well,” said Mr. Collins, “with Geronimo’s
surrender, the Indian Wars were finally over.” 
“What happened next to Geronimo a nd his
people?” Tom asked. 
“The Chiricahuas became prisoners of
war. Geronimo and about 350 of his fellow
Chiricahuas were sent by train to an army post
in Florida.” The guide pointed to a picture of
Geronimo and other Chiricahuas sitting on the
ground next to the prison train.

“Later, they were transferred to another post,in Alabama. The climate there was so bad that many of the Apaches died of tuberculosis and other diseases. “Finally, in 1894, the remaining Chiricahuas were sent to Fort Sill in Oklahoma, and that’s where they are
today. And they’re still prisoners of
war. Geronimo can’t go anywhere
outside the reservation without being accompanied by armed guards.”

An Honorary Apache
Tom looked over at Geronimo. The crowd
of people was gone. And to Tom’s dismay, the
photographer was taking his camera down.
 “Oh, no!” he cried. 
“You’d better run,” Mr. Collins said. 
Tom thanked the guide for his history lesson,
and then he dashed across the room. “Hey, wait!”
he said. “I want to have a picture taken!”
 The photographer continued to dismantle his equipment.

“Sorry, kid. Gotta go. Come back some
other time.” 
Tom wouldn’t budge. “No! I may not be able
to come back! Come on!” 
The photographer rolled his eyes. “All right,
all right.”
 A minute later, Tom was standing with 
Geronimo in front of a dark curtain. There was a blinding flash of light as the photographer ignited a load of flash powder. 
The photographer took Tom’s quarter and
wrote down his name and address. “I’ll mail you a print,” he said.

Geronimo patted Tom on the back. “You might
have been a great warrior,” he said with a smile. “I will make you an honorary Apache, huh? I will call you Stands His Ground.” 
Tom was wowed. “Thank you, Mister Geronimo!”

As Tom was leaving, he passed some posters with quotes from Geronimo. One, referring to the Apache people, read, “I cannot think that we are useless, or God would not have created us. There is one
God looking down on us all. We are all children of the one God.”

When Tom met his parents and told them 
about becoming an honorary Apache, Mrs.
Richards rattled on about the Pike being nothing but sideshow spectacles. “I won’t hear another word about it. We’re only going to exhibits where
you can really learn something.”
 Tom made no reply. He knew from Geronimo’s story that there are times when standing your ground brings nothing but grief.

Afterword 
Once a valiant war leader, Geronimo was in his
old age a popular novelty. He appeared at a number
of fairs and Wild West shows. In 1905, he rode in the
inaugural parade of President Theodore Roosevelt. He
died of pneumonia at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1909 at 
the age of 79 or 80.

The Chiricahua Apaches remained prisoners of
war at Fort Sill until 1913. They were then allowed to either move to a reservation in New Mexico or stay in
Oklahoma. Those who remained in Oklahoma received small plots of land from the federal government.

Today, there are more than 50,000 Apaches in the United States, representing the Chiricahuas and several other groups. Nearly a third of them live on reservations in New Mexico and Arizona, where they have preserved a number of tribal traditions. Many Apaches work for lumber or cattle companies owned by the tribe.

The Apaches

A Selection from Robinson Crusoe

Introduction 
Abraham Lincoln, one of the most famous 
American presidents, is remembered for his
dedication to freedom. Lincoln led the United
States during the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, when
the northern and southern states fought to decide
the future of the country. He is known as the
“Great Emancipator” because he freed the slaves. After the war, the United States became one nation, pledged to freedom and democracy for all.

We think of Abraham Lincoln as a great
American folk hero and tell many stories and
legends about him. He is often pictured as tall, lanky, and solemn.
He is remembered as a
“common man” who was born in a log cabin in 
Kentucky with little regular schooling. Yet he
became a great lawyer, speaker, and political
leader.

His eloquent speeches about freedom, 
justice, and uniting all Americans are carved in
stone at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. 
His belief was simple: “As I would not be a
slave, so I would not be a master. 
This expresses my idea of democracy.”

The Early Years 
Abraham Lincoln was born to Thomas and
Nancy Hanks Lincoln on February 12, 1809, on a
small log-cabin farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. 
After moving to nearby Knob Creek, Abe and
his older sister, Sarah, went to school for short
periods during the winters.

Soon after, Abe’s father married Sarah Bush
Johnston, a widow and mother of three whom
Tom had known in Kentucky. With love and care,
she created a warm life for Abe and Sarah. She
encouraged Abe as he grew into a tall, awkward
youth. He spent much time in the woods using
his ax to fell trees and split logs for fences, 
wagons, and farm equipment. Friends told of
Abe’s moody quietness, even though Abe told
homey, humorous stories.

Abe went to school for only a few weeks 
in the winters, walking 18 miles (29 km.) daily.
Mostly he educated himself by borrowing books
and newspapers from neighbors and travelers. 
These were frontier days when people moved
westward, following Daniel Boone, Johnny
Appleseed, and other pioneers. Their stories,
and the books he read, sparked ideas of a world
larger than Abe’s back woods. They prepared
him for adulthood and his political career.

As a teenager, Abe, now a strong 6 feet
4 inches (2 m .), traveled down the Mississippi 
on a flatboat loaded with produce. He floated,
steering with a pole, to the busy port of New
Orleans, where he saw the city’s wonders and
people of many colors and nationalities. For
the first time, Abe saw black men, women,
and children chained at slave-holding pens 
and auction blocks to be bought and sold.

After Abe’s return, his father again moved
the family westward to central Illinois near the
town of Decatur. Abe helped his father build a
new log cabin, and soon after, left the homestead
at age 22. In the frontier village of New Salem,
Abe worked various jobs including storekeeper,
surveyor, and carpenter.

He became well known as a wrestler and as a skilled 
orator in the New
Salem Debating Society. He ran for the Illinois
State Legislature, losing in 1832 but succeeding
two years later. A lawyer and fellow legislator,
John Todd Stuart, encouraged Abe to study law.
Abe read law books,passed the exams in March
1837, and joined Stuart’s law practice, moving
to Springfield where the Illinois legislature met.

Law and Politics 
Abraham Lincoln’s views were based on his
strong belief in democratic rights for the common
man—that each person was important regardless
of wealth or privilege. He became a respected
member of the Whig party, supporting strong
central government in Washington, D .C. The other
leading party, the Democrats, believed in “states’
rights,” or that states should control their own
affairs without interference from Washington.

At the age of 30, Lincoln met his future
wife, Mary Ann Todd. She was the fashionable
daughter of a wealthy Kentucky banker. Her
background was very different from Lincoln’s,
yet they fell in love. After overcoming Mary’s
parents’ objections, they married on November 4,
1842. In 1843, their first son, Robert, was
born. In 1846, Lincoln won the election for
Illinois representative to the U .S . Congress
and moved to Washington, D.C.,with his family.

Lincoln was in Congress as the northern and
southern states became more divided over the
issue of slavery. The North depended on free
laborers in its factories and small farms, and
believed in a strong central government. Slavery
was outlawed in the northern states. The South,
whose economy revolved around “king cotton”
grown on large plantations, used slave labor.

Slaves, primarily black Africans, were owned as
property. Most lived under very poor conditions 
and were treated inhumanely. They had no
personal or civil rights. The laws of southern
states allowed and protected slavery. The United
States expanded as western territories applied
for statehood. Would these states enter as “free”
or “slave” states?

The South wanted new lands for slave-grown cotton. 
The North wanted the country to promote independent 
farms and free labor.
Lincoln opposed slavery, but as an Illinois
representative in Washington, he believed that 
the practice was protected by the state laws in
the South. However, he fought the spread of 
slavery in the western territories.

During the 1840s, the abolitionist movement, 
which wanted to outlaw slavery, grew. Its
followers, both whites and free blacks, demanded
an end to the horrors and inhumanity of holding
humans in bondage. 
Lincoln returned to Springfield after two
years in Washington, and for the next few years 
shared a successful law practice with his partner,
William Herndon. Lincoln became known for his
honesty, legal abilities, wit, and fine oratory.

In February 1850, Abraham and Mary faced
tragedy when their boy Eddie, nearly four years
old, died of tuberculosis. Both parents were
deeply depressed, and Mary showed signs of 
emotional imbalance. In December of that year, 
a son named William Wallace was born, and three
years later came another son, Thomas, or Tad for
short. Lincoln was very close to his sons and was
a proud and loving father.

America Divided 
Meanwhile in the 1850s, the pro- and anti-
slavery forces struggled for power. Congress
passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. This
cancelled an earlier law that forbade slavery
in these territories. The new law allowed the
residents to decide whether they wanted to be
free or slave states. This principle of letting the
people decide, called “popular sovereignty,”
 was introduced by an old political rival of
Lincoln’s, Stephen Douglas, now a U.S. senator
from Illinois.

Abraham decided it was time to speak out against the
spread of slavery and to try again for political office. He joined the new Republican Party, which opposed slavery, 
and was nominated in 1858 as their candidate for senator. 
His opponent was his old enemy,Senator Douglas. 
During the campaign, they held the Lincoln-Douglas
debates, which captured the attention of the
country. Lincoln, with great oratorical skill,
exclaimed that slavery was causing a national crisis.

“A house divided against itself cannot
stand. I believe this government cannot endure, 
permanently half slave and half free.” Lincoln
argued that blacks were entitled to the “right
to life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness,” just like whites. Douglas said that 
the Constitution guaranteed equality only to white
citizens, not to blacks. Each state, he believed, had the right to decide whether it would be slave or free.

Lincoln lost the election, but the debates made
him popular, particularly in the Republican Party. 
By 1860, he was the party’s choice for president. 
In his campaign rallies and parades, he was
called “Honest Abe,” the homespun rail-splitter, 
a man of the people who stood for equality and
freedom. 
On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected 
president of the United States.

The North and the western territories rejoiced; 
the South was outraged. Even before Lincoln’s
inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven southern
states voted to secede from the United
States of America. By February, the
pro-slavery states had established a
government, the Confederate States
of America, under President Jefferson
Davis, and prepared for war.

The War Years 
President Lincoln, still hoping to avoid
bloodshed, said in his inauguration speech, 
“In your hands, my dissatisfied countrymen, 
and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil
war.” But events moved swiftly, and by April 14,
northern troops had surrendered Fort Sumpter 
after South Carolina cannons fired on the fort.

Both sides, the Union and the Confederacy,
quickly mobilized, calling volunteers and
collecting arms and supplies. President Lincoln,
from his home and office in the Union city of
Washington, D .C ., could look across the river
to the Confederate state of Virginia.

The South’s superior military leadership 
defeated Union forces in the first battle at
Bull Run. Lincoln struggled to find strong
commanders to lead the Union troops throughout
the war. Under General George B. McClellan, the
Union armies had some successes, but by 1862
they were stopped by Confederate General
Robert E. Lee.

Although Union forces controlled 
New Orleans and the Mississippi River, there
were few victories. Lincoln took over more of the
military planning as the North called for action. 
Enormous numbers of young soldiers on both
sides were killed, wounded, or missing as the
war continued into its second year.

For Mary and Abraham Lincoln, personal
loss threw them into deep despair. Their second
son, Willie, died of fever in February 1862. 
Mary would never fully recover from her grief. 
Abraham shared his great sadness when he met
with the many families mourning war dead.

On the war front, the Union lost the second battle
of Bull Run, and at Antietam in September 1862, 
both sides suffered the bloodiest engagement
of the war. Powerful Republican senators urged
President Lincoln to make the abolition of slavery
a war goal. They argued that to fight the war
successfully, the Union needed to remove the
issue that caused the war.

Lincoln was finally
convinced that as president, he had the authority
to order abolition in the South. On January 1,
1863, the Emancipation Proclamation went into
effect, freeing “thenceforth and forever” all the
slaves in the South. Freed blacks rushed to join
the Union army, and by the end of the war, over
180,000 former slaves had volunteered.

The summer of 1863 brought victory to Union
forces at Gettysburg, a turning point in the war. 
President Lincoln, while dedicating a cemetery
to the many soldiers who had died on both
sides, delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. 
The speech lasted only two minutes, yet it is
remembered for its simple beauty and eloquence.

Lincoln spoke of the war as a test of whether
the nation could survive as a democracy. He
challenged those still alive to complete the
unfinished work of those who had died, “that
the government of the people, by the people,
for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Under the newly appointed General Ulysses
S. Grant, the Union armies were victorious in
the West and South. Lincoln saw hope of the
war’s end as Confederate troops were defeated 
in Georgia and Virginia in late 1864. He was
reelected President and, in early 1865, cheered
the Congressional passage of the Thirteenth
Amendment to the U .S. Constitution, which
prohibited slavery in the United States.

The war ended on April 9, 1865, four years
after it began, and cost 600,000 lives. The Union
was preserved, and slavery was abolished. But
only six days later, President Abraham Lincoln
lay dead from an assassin’s bullet. A Confederate
sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth, shot Lincoln 
while he attended a play at Washington’s Ford
Theatre. As Lincoln’s body was carried back to
his beloved Illinois on a funeral train, mourners
by the roadside silently saluted this great
American hero.

His mother, Nancy,
encouraged their “eddication,” but his father, 
Tom, wanted Abe to help with chores. 
When Abe was seven, the family moved to
Indiana, hoping for a better life. Two years after
Tom built a new log cabin, Nancy became ill with
 “milk sickness” and died. Abe and Sarah mourned
the death of their hard-working, loving mother.

Abraham Lincoln:From Log Cabin to the White House

Written by Troy Wolff
 Illustrated by Marcy Ramsey

in the sun, yet his eyes beamed bright and 
 welcoming. Even though the man was sitting 
 down, Brady could tell he was tall and 
 slenderbecause his clothes hung loosely.
 “Are you Dimitri?” Brady inquired, 
 rather cautiously.Brady was on vacation with 
 his parents in Greece, and they’d arranged 
 for him to connect with Dimitri, an old family 
 friend, while they spent precious time 
 visiting the Athens National Museum. Brady wasn’t 
 thrilled to hang out with Dimitri, but his father 
 assured him that it’d be a day he’d never forget, 
 so Brady begrudgingly obliged.

“Yes, I am,” the man answered. “Actually, it’s Dimitrious Thanapopoulous, at your 
 service,” he continued with a slight bow of his head, “but please call me Dimitri.”
 “So, you know my dad?” Brady wondered.“Yes, Brady. I met your father when he 
 graduated college and felt eager to experience life outside the United States. 
 We explored the European countries of Greece, Italy, France, and Spain together, 
 and I owe your father a debt for saving my life.”Dimitri stopped speaking and closed his eyes. A tiny smile crossed his face, and 
 the wrinkles around his eyes deepened. “What a glorious time; 
 remember, all of us older folks were once young and full of 
 questions and energy like you,”Dimitri observed.“Well, 
 I don’t have many questions,” Brady answered with a 
 shrug of his shoulders. “All this ancient history 
 and learning about other countries seems boring.”
 “Boring?” Dimitri boomed. “My friend, you’re 
 in one of the most exciting cities; Athens is the birthplace of 
 many ideas that are the foundation of our modern world.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard,” Brady said, “but in my world, in my little sixth-grade reality, a bunch of dates and names don’t mean anything to me.”“Well, that’s about to change,” Dimitri exclaimed, 
 patting Brady on the shoulder.“I’m going to bring the 
 secrets of Athens to life before your very eyes.”“I’m more 
 interested in how my father saved your life. He didn’t 
 mention anything about that. As far as visiting places 
 in Greece, I don’t have much money,”Brady responded, 
 hoping this would excuse him from a day of historical
 sightseeing.“Money isn’t needed,”Dimitri answered. 
 “Simply open your imagination and I’ll do the rest. 
 What do you say?” Dimitri asked,
 extending a suntanned arm toward Brady for a handshake. 
 “And for a treat, at the end, I’ll tell you a story 
 about your dad.”“Well, okay, I guess,” Brady replied.

“What are we doing here?” Brady protested. 
 Instead of answering, Dimitri led Brady toward 
 a stone tower near a fenced area. 
 The tower resembled a two-story-high marble 
 octagon that had turned gray and rough with 
 weather and age. Atop each of the eight flat 
 sides, a carved figure appeared as if 
 floating on the wind.“Brady, tell me what 
 you see,” Dimitri demanded quietly.
 “Um, a tower,” Brady answered. 
 “That’s obvious,” Dimitri smiled, 
 “look closer and tell me what you really see.”

Brady shaded his eyes with his hand and focused. He noticed several small metal rods—
 rusted with age—poking out from flat sides of the tower at odd angles. Each rod 
 rose out from one of the floating figures. “What are those rods for?”
Brady asked.
 “Ah, so now you notice something unusual,”Dimitri answered. 
 “We miss so much in life if we fail to notice the details—
 if we don’t really keep our eyes open.”“My dad says that,
 too,” Brady answered, “but what are these metal things for?”
 “Well, my suddenly inquisitive friend, this is the Tower of 
 the Winds, built approximately 100 bc by an astronomer named 
 Andronicus (an-draw-NY-kuhs).” As Dimitri spoke, he leaned
 back and focused his attention on the tower.“Brady, look more 
 closely at the carvings and tell me if you see the straight 
 lines cutting through the figures?”“Yes,” Brady answered, 
 noticing lines stretching out like spokes on a wheel.“Do 
 you know what a sundial is?”Dimitri asked, keeping his eyes on the tower.

“Yeah,” Brady answered, “it tells time by the shadow created by the Sun, right?”“Exactly,”Dimitri responded. “Imagine this tower as one 
 giant sundial, but a sundial also working all year long as a calendar.”
 “I don’t understand,” Brady said, looking more closely at the markings.
 “It’s quite brilliant, really,” Dimitri continued. 
 “The Sun changes position in the sky throughout the 
 year. Each of the lines, when hit by the shadow cast 
 by the rod, told the citizens of Athens the exact 
 time of day, but also the exact time of year.”
 Dimitri stepped back and spread his arms wide in 
 the direction of the tower: “A giant marble calendar!”
 “Man, that’s really cool,” Brady answered 
 enthusiastically.“Cool?” Dimitri asked. 
 “What exactly do you mean by ‘cool’? Be more specific.”

“Okay,” Brady replied, staring hard at the tower. “I mean . . . it’s surprising that 
 this Andronicus guy who lived so long ago figured out exactly how to measure time.”
 “Much better,” Dimitri smiled. “And speaking of time, we’d better quicken 
 our pace if we’re going to meet your splendid parents for dinner tonight. 
 We have much yet to see.”“Dimitri, will you now 
 tell me how my father saved your life?”“Not yet, 
 young man,” said Dimitri,“remember, patience is
 an important virtue.”Discovering the Theater 
 Dimitri and Brady soon rejoined the walking crowds 
 filling the narrow stone streets at the Acropolis’s 
 base. Brady lagged behind, unable to keep up with 
 Dimitri’s determined pace. Brady began to notice local 
 people working in the restaurants surrounding the Acropolis, 
 along with tourists from all over the world with cameras 
 around their necks and maps in hand. Suddenly, Brady gasped, “Whoa! What’s that?” “Brady, such emotion from you? I’m surprised,” Dimitri grinned.

“Oh, I just meant it took me by surprise,
 that’s all—no big deal,” Brady answered,
 slightly embarrassed. “But what is this place?”
 he continued.
 Stretching up the slope toward the Acropolis,
 looming before Dimitri and Brady, stood row
 after row of stone benches in a gigantic 
 semicircle. The benches brightly reflected 
 the midday sun. After giving Brady some time, 
 Dimitri spoke:“So, Brady, do you like movies?”
 “Of course,” Brady said, puzzled, but not
 taking his eyes off the sight before him.

“Well, they started right here,” Dimitri stated. “All our ideas of drama, comedy, 
 and tragedy began with Greek theater. Twenty-four centuries ago, great plays were 
 performed in this ancient arena, the Theater of Dionysus (dy-uh-NY-suhs),”
 Dimitri continued. “Once a year, 17,000 people watched play after play—tragedies and
 comedies—many we still perform and study. At the end of 
 a three-day contest, citizens decided on the winning play.” 
 Brady tried to picture the slightly overgrown stone theater 
 filled with people. The actors must have struggled to have 
 their lines heard by those seated in the very top rows.“Dimitri,” 
 Brady asked, “did the Greeks have microphones?”“Brady, 
 it was 400 bc,”Dimitri said, laughing.“There were no microphones.”
 “Then how could people watching from the top rows hear actors onstage?”Instead of answering, Dimitri instructed Brady to 
 climb to the last row of seats. As Brady scrambled up the steep
 marble steps worn smooth by centuries of footsteps, his leg muscles burned like wood over hot coals. He began sweating profusely.

Brady finally reached the top row, winded from the climb. He turned 
 toward the stage where Dimitri, tiny from this distance, stood 
 in the middle, waving his lanky arms. Then the kind guide cupped 
 his hand around his ear, giving Brady the silent signal to listen. 
 Brady felt completely shocked to hear Dimitri’s 
 voice come to him in a normal, everyday tone. 
 It sounded as though Dimitri were 
 standing right next to him, Brady thought.
 “So, Brady,” Dimitri said from below, “can
 you hear how they didn’t need microphones
 back then?”“Yes!” Brady yelled excitedly,
 his voice echoing off nearby cliffs and stone. 
 “This is amazing!” “Well, come down and I’ll explain how,”Dimitri added.

After climbing back down, Brady listened, amazed by the simplicity of the Greeks’ plan 
 for outdoor theaters. Based on mathematics, Dimitri explained, the theater was 
 divided into three equal sections—lower, middle, and upper. Each section of the semicircle 
 tilted at a slightly higher angle than the level below it. This created a bowl effect, 
 trapping sounds from the stage. As long as each row of seats was placed 
 in exact proportion to the stage, the audience members could hear 
 the actors. As Dimitri and Brady turned to leave the theater, 
 Brady shook his head, “I can’t believe things like this could’ve 
 been built so long ago; perhaps, I’ve misjudged history.” 
 Brady now loved his adventure, and no longer regretted
 sightseeing with Dimitri.“We still have the Acropolis 
 to visit,” Dimitri said excitedly as they left the theater.
 Climbing to the TopContinuing along the stone walkway
 following the curve of the hillside, they noticed people above them, gathered around 
 the entrance gate to the Acropolis like a flock of pigeons eating
breadcrumbs. 
 From where Dimitri and Brady stood, all Brady could see were the modern

buildings and pathways of a city park surrounding the entrance 
 and a series of broken-down marble buildings higher up on 
 the hillside. “Dimitri, I don’t understand the big deal,”
 Brady muttered, looking at the crowds of people swarming over 
 steps leading up the hill. “We’ve walked so far to experience
 the Acropolis, yet all this place 
 looks like is a bunch of broken,scattered rocks.”
 “Brady, my impatient friend, it’s a matter of
 perspective,” Dimitri maintained.“Perspective?”
 Brady wondered.“Yes,” Dimitri responded, 
 “what you see from where you’re standing—this 
 represents perspective.What’s important to 
 realize is that you often can’t

see everything from your own viewpoint. It’s an
 important lesson to learn.” Dimitri paused for a
 moment, letting Brady think about what he’d
 said. Then he continued. “Don’t you think there’s
 a legitimate reason these people walked so far
 and climbed such a multitude of steps?”
 “Yeah, I guess,” Brady admitted.
 “Then you need to look past what your eyes
 tell you; ask your father, he knows. As far 
 as the Acropolis is concerned, trust me, 
 beyond the top of those marble steps lies one 
 of the wonders of the ancient world—the 
 Parthenon and many buildings of the Acropolis.”

Sure enough, after reaching the top, Brady’s jaw dropped open at the sight before him.
 On the highest point of the Acropolis hill stood a stone temple with evenly spaced, 
 massive columns of marble—the Parthenon. It looked as big as a modern football 
 stadium but was decorated with carved figures and geometric patterns in stone. The 
 entire building seemed to glow a honeyorange color in the 
 late afternoon light. Shafts of sunlight shot down between 
 the columns, reaching toward the earth from the sky. Brady 
 tried to think of something back home that would compare to 
 this, but nothing came to mind. His thoughts spun as he tried 
 to picture this magnificent temple being built by ancient Greeks centuries before people even knew the Earth was round. “So, 
 worth the climb?” Dimitri queried playfully. “Yes, it’s 
 awesome,” Brady answered. Dimitri and Brady walked around 
 the Parthenon, admiring the perfect lines in the building and its unbelievable 
 height. At various places near the roof, Brady saw detailed scenes
carved into 
 the stone—perfect images of faces, clothing, animals, and ancient gods.

“Dimitri,” he asked, after momentarily losing
 sight of his friend in the crowd around the temple, 
 “this building’s so different from other great 
 buildings I’ve seen. We don’t decorate our buildings, 
 not like this. American buildings are all glass and 
 steel.”“That’s true,” Dimitri agreed,“but you’ve 
 got to remember, this wasn’t an ordinary building. 
 This was a magnificent temple to the goddess 
 Athena, the protector of Athens. All buildings of 
 the Acropolis celebrated the utter greatness 
 of Athens.”“Things sure are different today,” 
 Brady answered, marveling at the monument before

him and comparing it in his mind’s eye to the churches and office buildings back home.
 After admiring the Parthenon and other buildings, Brady found himself against a wall
 on the extreme edge of the hilltop. Below him in every direction stretched the
 crowded streets and rooftops of Athens. In the distance, he could see the large oval of 
 the Olympic stadium, and even farther away, the glistening sea. 
 As the Sun turned orange and began to drop below the horizon, 
 Brady’s thoughts wandered back over all he’d seen.“You know, Dimitri,” Brady said, while focusing on the brilliant sunset 
 spilling out before him, “you’re right, I need to pay more 
 attention to the details of life. I would’ve missed so many
 of these amazing sights if I were here by myself. Thank you 
 for opening my eyes about these places. Now will you please 
 tell me how my father saved your life?”“You don’t need to 
 thank me, my friend,”Dimitri answered, putting a hand on 
 Brady’s shoulder and joining him in admiring the sunset.
 “Nothing in life pleases me more than seeing friends truly appreciate the wonders 
 of life.”Dimitri stood silently for an extended moment before continuing:

“Now I’ll explain how your father’s a hero.”“My father was a hero?” asked Brady, shocked. “Your father and I were traveling in Spain
 when we decided to take part in the Running of the Bulls, a Spanish tradition in which regular people carouse with hundreds of wild bulls.
 What an exciting time! But while running,
 I took my eyes off the bulls and would have
 been stampeded to death except that your
 father pushed me out of the way at the last
 instant. That’s why I said it’s important to 
 see things from a certain viewpoint, and that’s 
 also why your father and I say it’s important to 
 keep your eyes open.”“Wow, I never knew my 
 father had that in him,” Brady replied. In the 
 fading light, Brady thought about how he’d leave
 Greece a different person than when he arrived.

Dimitri the Greek “You must be Brady.”Surprised, Brady stopped and looked around; he felt jostled by large crowds of tourists streaming down narrow stone-paved streets like rivers of people.“Over here, young man,” the voice continued.Brady squinted in the bright morning sunshine, struggling to find the voice’s origin.He glanced toward a shady 
 sidewalk cafe on the busy street, but the glaring 
 sunlight kept Brady’s eyes from penetrating deep 
 into shadows created by umbrellas.“Yes,” Brady 
 answered timidly.“You’re Brady, son of my 
 American friend, John Phillips?” the voice 
 questioned.“Yeah,” Brady answered more surely.
 “Please, my young friend, come and sit with me.”
 As Brady slowly moved into the shade, his eyes adjusted. 
 He noticed this tall figure sitting alone at a table in the corner. 
 The man’s head looked completely bald and tanned by years

Winding Around the Acropolis
 Dimitri and Brady left the cafe, working their way among groups of tourists sightseeing
 and shopping along the narrow streets of Old Athens that wound through the city 
 like a snake.The pair walked toward the steep-sided hill
 called the Acropolis, which was Greece’s mostfamous landmark. 
 The Acropolis hill rose up and towered above the crowded 
 streets of the city.Brady previously saw the buildings on 
 the hilltop lit up at night, glowing high above the city 
 as if anchored in the ground like a huge cruise ship.
 Before Dimitri and Brady reached the foot of the steep 
 slope leading up to the hilltop, Dimitri steered Brady 
 away from the crowd. Off the street, through a rusty, 
 iron gate stretched a flat, dusty plot of land dotted with several marble columns 
 and bits of old stone-paved roads. A modern iron fence separated this area from the rest of Athens like a private park or cemetery.

Acropolis Adventure

Part Three of The American Revolution
 Written by Terry Miller Shannon

Introduction
 In 1776, the thirteen British colonies in North
 America signed the Declaration of Independence,
 proclaiming they were free and independent of
 Great Britain’s rule. At the same time, the 
 colonies declared themselves a union of states 
 called the United States of America. After that,
 the union of states needed to devise a system of 
 government. Delegates from the original thirteen 
 colonies, now called states, began to draft a plan 
 for a government. It would take five years for
 this plan to be firmly established within the new
 union of states because war with Great Britain
 continued. However, it would take another
 forty years and another war with Great Britain
 for this new union to feel truly united.

The Articles of Confederation
 In 1777, delegates appointed by each state
 to the Second Continental Congress agreed to
 send the new plan for government to the states 
 for review. The document detailing the plan would
 become known as the Articles of Confederation.
 It did not refer to the United States as a nation, 
 but as a “firm league of friendship” between 
 thirteen states. The document set up a weak 
 federal government and strong state governments. 
 The states liked the authority and freedom they 
 had under the Articles. Each state created its 
 own constitution and printed its own money.

Do You Know?
 The first thirteen states
 were all located along
 the East Coast of the
 present-day United States

The Articles of Confederation gave the federal
 government of the United States no authority
 and no freedom to act. The United States had
 debts from the war, but Congress, the one branch
 of federal government created by the Articles,
 could not tax people to raise money to pay off
 the debts. The lack of power to tax would prove 
 to be one of the Articles of Confederation’s 
 fatal flaws. The document had other flaws as well,
 including that no one executive was in charge.

A president was elected to oversee the proceedings
 of Congress, but had no power to make decisions.
 Congress also did not have the power to change 
 the Articles if the union of states decided 
 something about the plan was not working. Nine 
 of the thirteen states had to agree to changes 
 in the Articles. It would take several years 
 after its approval by the states for the 
 Articles of Confederation to show its flaws.

The Treaty of Paris
 It took almost five years for all thirteen states
 to come to an agreement and approve the Articles
 of Confederation. In 1781, the major fighting of
 the Revolutionary War ended with U.S. General
 George Washington’s win over British General
 Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, but 
 the war itself wasn’t officially over for two 
 more years. Representatives from the United 
 States and Great Britain discussed peace terms 
 in Paris, France, from the middle of 1782 until 
 the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 
 1783. Only then had the war officially ended.

The peace treaty established two important ideas:
 1. It recognized the new United States to be
 independent of Great Britain.
 2. It also set the boundaries of the new United
 States. It included all land from the Atlantic
 Ocean west to the Mississippi River with the
 exception of New Orleans and the Floridas,
 which Spain controlled. The United States’
 northern boundary was set at the Great Lakes
 and along the borders of Quebec and Nova
 Scotia, both part of British-controlled Canada.

Why Did It Take So Long?
 The Treaty of Paris was not signed until two 
 years after the war ended at Yorktown. Great 
 Britain was in no hurry to please the United 
 States. Britain also hoped a delay would 
 increase the chances that colonists who had 
 fled the colonies due to their loyalty to 
 Britain would get paid for property they lost
 when they fled. Estimates vary on how many 
 colonists loyal to Britain left during and after 
 the war, but some put the number around 100,000.

Thinking Critically
 WHY was it important for the U.S. 
 to be recognized in the Treaty 
 of Paris as independent of 
 Britain? IN YOUR MIND, what might
 have happened if the treaty did 
 not recognize U.S. independence?

Money Problems
 Once the Revolutionary War was over and the
 Treaty of Paris signed, there were terrible money
 troubles for the United States. Soldiers headed
 home, poor and tired. The government had no
 money and no power to tax, so many of the
 soldiers were not paid. But an even bigger money
 headache faced the new nation: war debts. The
 nation owed more than $76 million to foreign
 countries, individual Americans, and state banks.
 Leaders did not know how they would raise the
 money to pay off the huge debts.

In Massachusetts, money problems at home 
 inspired a rebellion. Farmers who fought 
 for independence could not pay their 
 debts and lost their farms. In 1786, 
 Daniel Shays, a former Revolutionary War
 captain, and about a thousand farmers 
 and other workers marched on the town 
 of Springfield, Massachusetts, and then 
 headed to Boston. The U.S. army met them 
 there, and gunfire was exchanged. Some of 
 the workers were tried and hanged while 
 others were not punished. Shays’Rebellion 
 persuaded many citizens and leaders that 
 a stronger federal government was needed.

Constitutional Convention
 To solve the many problems of the United States, fifty- five men arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a meeting at Independence Hall in May 1787. The goal of the meeting was to change the Articles of Confederation to make the federal government stronger. They would work on drafting a constitution that would establish an executive 
 to lead the union, give Congress the power to tax, and create a way to change the governing document. Twelve of the thirteen states sent delegates. Each delegate was an influential leader in his own state and was also known as a leader in the new union. All the delegates were wealthy, educated white men. The delegates elected George 
 Washington to preside over the meeting, which became known as the Constitutional Convention. The convention would last for several weeks.

Debates over revisions to the Articles of
 Confederation raised tempers on two issues
 related to power in the new government. 
 The first issue was representation. More 
 representatives in Congress would equal 
 more power, so two plans were proposed. 
 One based representation on population, 
 which meant more representatives for 
 states with more people. The other plan 
 made representation equal for all states.

The second issue was slavery, which was
 important to the farming economy in the southern
 states. Slaves were people who were forced to
 work without pay. Southern states not only
 wanted to ensure they could keep their slaves,
 but also that they could have slaves counted for
 representation—even though slaves could not
 vote. The delegates for the southern states 
 thought that by counting slaves for representation, 
 their states would be on more equal footing with 
 the northern states, which had more people.

The delegates developed a compromise on both representation and slavery. For representation, they created two houses of Congress. In the Senate, all states would be equally represented. In the House of Representatives, states would 
 be represented based on their population. On the issue of 
 slavery, the delegates prohibited Congress from making
any 
 changes to control slavery for twenty years. They also agreed 
 to count three-fifths of the slave population. Delegates also debated how much power the president should have.

So they developed a system of checks and balances by which 
 each power given to one branch of the government would be matched with equal power given to the other two branches. Three branches were proposed in all—a legislative branch with two houses of Congress, an executive branch with a president, and a judicial branch with a system of courts to enforce laws. A system to change the Constitution was also built into the document.

On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine 
 delegates of the convention signed the
 Constitution and sent it out to the states 
 for a vote. People everywhere debated 
 whether the Constitution created a good 
 plan for government. A group called the
 Federalists liked the Constitution and 
 worked to get states to ratify it. Another
 group called the Antifederalists did not 
 like the Constitution and worked against 
 it becoming the law of the land.

The Antifederalists said the Constitution 
 needed to list the rights that belonged 
 to the people and could not be taken away 
 by the government. Eventually, the two 
 sides would reach an agreement, and all 
 thirteen states would vote in favor of the
 Constitution. The agreement between the 
 Federalists and the Antifederalists included 
 ten changes to the Constitution, which were 
 called the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights 
 guaranteed the right to free speech, the right 
 to practice a religion, and other rights.

Liberty for All?
 Slaves were not free, and neither were women. 
 Women weren’t able to vote, and pretty much 
 had to do as their husbands or fathers told 
 them. John Adams’s wife, Abigail, frequently 
 mentioned this fact to her husband: “Whilst 
 you are proclaiming peace and goodwill to
 men . . . you insist upon retaining an 
 absolute power over wives,” she wrote to 
 John. In another letter, she wrote: “In the 
 new code of laws . . . I desire you remember
 the ladies . . . .”

Thinking Critically
 WHY did the delegates compromise 
 on so many issues to create the
 Constitution? IN YOUR MIND, how does
 compromise make things stronger?

Under the new Constitution, George Washington was
 elected president of the United States of America and
 took office on April 30, 1789. Many people felt he was 
 a great leader. He served two four-year terms as 
 president of the United States. During his first term,
 Washington appointed Alexander Hamilton as secretary of 
 the treasury. Hamilton’s plan to fix the new nation’s 
 many money problems included taxes on imports and the 
 first National Bank. Hamilton’s plan seemed to restore 
 faith in the government and stimulated growth in the 
 economy. After Washington finished his second term, John Adams was elected president of the United States in 1796. Next came Thomas Jefferson in 1801.

Arguments Over Land
 Another problem faced the new country—what
 to do with the enormous lands the United States
 gained after winning the Revolutionary War.
 Everyone greedily claimed the new lands. Some
 areas were claimed by several states at one 
 time. The leaders of the United States had to 
 figure out how to fairly divide up the land.
 The Land Ordinance of 1785 spelled out how
 to divide the new property into townships and
 sections. The sections were to be sold to 
 settlers. Certain sections were set aside for 
 the government and for public schools.

In 1787, Virginia state delegate 
 Thomas Jefferson designed the 
 Northwest Ordinance, which 
 provided rules for how new states 
 would be created in the Northwest
 Territory. It ensured that the
 United States would hold
 no colonies as Britain had
 held the thirteen colonies.

The Land Ordinance and the Northwest
 Ordinance set the stage for a huge movement of
 settlers westward in the early 1800s. To enable
 this expansion, roads, canals, and railroads were
 built. The nation was rapidly expanding, and the
 new government seemed able to keep up with the
 pace. Debts were being paid, land disagreements
 were settled, and a division of power for the new
 government was established. The outlook for the
 new nation had turned from the grimness that
 followed the war to the brightness of the future.

The Louisiana Purchase
 With all this prosperity and expansion, 
 leaders of the United States started making 
 plans. France now held the land from the 
 Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, 
 and the port of New Orleans, which meant 
 U.S. westerners could not use the
 Mississippi River or the port of New Orleans 
 to move crops for trade. The United States
 approached Napoleon Bonaparte, France’s
 emperor, to try to buy New Orleans.

Bonaparte had some major setbacks in a war
 in Europe, and he needed troops and money.
 In order to fund his war, he offered to 
 sell not only New Orleans, but also the 
 entire Louisiana Territory for $15 million. 
 In October 1803, the United States purchased 
 the Louisiana Territory for France’s asking 
 price—and doubled the size of the nation. 
 The purchase added 800,000 square miles 
 and 200,000 people to the United States.

Exploration and War
 In May 1804, President Thomas Jefferson sent two army officers—Meriwether Lewis and William Clark—plus a 45- member group to find a route across the continent, explore the Louisiana Territory, and report back. After more than two years of traveling, the group returned with journals, drawings, and samples of wildlife, plants, and stories of the Native Americans they had met on their travels.

It seemed that the United States had a firm hold on its land in North America. However, while Lewis and Clark explored the new western territory of the United States, an old ally—
France—
 fought a raging war with Great Britain. President Jefferson hoped 
 to keep the United States out of the war, and when James Madison became president in 1808, he hoped to do the same.

The United States would not be able to stay out
 of the war, however, because British and French
 ships began seizing and searching U.S. ships
 in order to keep supplies from reaching their
 enemies. The British also seized the sailors on 
 the ships they took, forcing them to serve as 
 British sailors. This made U.S. citizens who 
 had gained independence from Britain subject to
 Great Britain’s tyranny again.
 In 1812, President Madison told Britain to stop
 searching and seizing U.S. ships or there would
 be war. Not satisfied with the response, Madison
 declared war with Britain on June 1, 1812.

The United States did not have the navy 
 to fight Britain on the seas. An invasion 
 to conquer British-controlled Canada 
 failed, proving the army could not take 
 on the giant nation again. For two
 and a half years, the United States
 remained at war with Britain. On 
 December 24, 1814, the two countries 
 signed a peace treaty to end the war.

Even though the war had officially ended, the United States engaged in 
 one more battle against the British. On January 8, 1815, Americans 
 decisively won the Battle of New Orleans under General
Andrew Jackson 
 (who was unaware a peace treaty had been signed). More than 1,000 
 British soldiers died. The U.S. death toll was less than twenty.
 The victory at the Battle of New Orleans made it clear that the 
 United States, not Great Britain, truly controlled the western part 
 of the country. It also made U.S. citizens feel like they had won 
 the War of 1812, although, in truth, neither side was
victorious. 
 Maybe the most important outcome was that the late victory made the 
 new United States of America feel truly united as one nation.

Timeline of the American Revolution
 1754–63 French and Indian War
 1764–65 Sugar Act, Quartering Act, and Stamp Act
 1767 Townshend Acts
 1770 Boston Massacre
 1774 Coercive (Intolerable) Acts; First Continental Congress meets
 1775 Revolutionary War starts;
 Second Continental Congress meets
 July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence signed
 1781 Revolutionary War ends;
 Articles of Confederation approved
by all thirteen states
 1786 Shays’ Rebellion
 1787 Constitutional Convention held
 1791 Constitution ratified by all states; Bill of Rights ratified
 1812 War with Britain begins again
 1814 Treaty of Ghent signed to end War of 1812

Thinking Critically
 HOW long do you think the process of forming a new nation takes—a long time or a short time? IN YOUR MIND, what does this tell you about new
governments being formed today?

Building a Nation

Written by Steven Accardi
 Illustrated by John Kastner

Leaving the City
 The car ride was long and silent. Leo did 
 not want to leave the city, but his father
 wanted him to meet his new girlfriend, 
 Lucinda. The boy wished his parents were 
 still together—that they hadn’t divorced
 —but he felt resigned that there was 
 nothing he could do about it. When he asked 
 why his parents separated, his father would 
 often say, “It wasn’t in the stars.”

As they pulled off the highway, Leo noticed
 how different the scenery looked. Farmhouses
 and silos dotted the vast plains and lush fields.
 Herds of cows relaxed with their calves in the
 cool green grass. As they ascended the hills, a 
 canopy of trees covered them. It was so different
 from the concrete pathways, garbage-filled 
 alleyways, and traffic-strained byways to which 
 he was so accustomed. “You know, Lucinda has a 
 son in the fifth grade, too. His name is Dontrelle. 
 I’m sure the two of you will get along just fine.”
 “I’m sure,” Leo muttered standoffishly.

Lucinda’s house was quaint, tucked back from
 the road, bordering a forest. She sat on the 
 porch, sipping iced tea from a glass with a 
 slice of lemon clinging to the rim.
 “Thomas, you made it.” She smiled, skipping
 down the steps to greet them. Sweeping her 
 arms to take in the view, she laughed, “Not 
 quite like going to the office, huh?”
 “It’s amazing how different it is out here,”
 Thomas agreed, greeting Lucinda with a grin.
 Then he put his arm around Leo’s shoulder.
 “Lucinda, this is my son, Leo.”

Lucinda extended her hand, but Leo didn’t
 budge, keeping his eyes glued to the ground.
 “Sometimes he’s a little shy,” Thomas 
 tried to explain. Lucinda crouched down to 
 Leo’s height, which didn’t require much 
 effort because Leo was quite a bit taller 
 than the average fifth grader. “My son, 
 Dontrelle, is around back. Why don’t you 
 go hang out with him? I think he’s about 
 to go fishing. Do you like fishing?” Leo 
 didn’t answer but begrudgingly dragged
 himself off the porch and toward the backyard.

Leo found Dontrelle pushing on a large tree
 trunk, barely managing to lift it off the 
 ground. Dontrelle was much smaller and shorter 
 than Leo. “What are you doing?” asked Leo.
 “A little help here,” Dontrelle said, still
 straining to move the tree trunk. Leo joined 
 in, and with their combined strength,
 the two overturned the tree trunk. Worms and
 bugs, now exposed, slithered around. Dontrelle
 reached for an old soup can nearby and began
 scooping in fresh worms and dirt. Leo watched,
 narrowing his brow.

“Haven’t you ever been fishing before?”
 Dontrelle asked. 
 “With worms? That’s disgusting.”
 “What do you use?” 
 “Nothing. I’ve never been fishing. 
 I live in the city. 
 There’s nothing butconcrete there.”
 “Oh.”

Leo cracked a faint smile. He decided that
 Dontrelle was all right. The two exchanged 
 names and handshakes, even though Dontrelle’s 
 hands were still covered with worm slime.
 “My mom wanted me to take you fishing before 
 dinner, but it’s getting late, so we’ll 
 have to fish quickly. The sun is about to set. 
 Grab those poles and let’s get going.” Leo 
 grabbed two long, skinny tree branches that 
 each had a fishing line and a hook tied onto 
 it. When he looked over, he saw Dontrelle 
 already on the trail, headed into the woods.

Into the Woods
 The woods were dense and scented with musty 
 dark pine, the kind of smell that clings to 
 a sweater. Leo coughed as the cloudy scent 
 overwhelmed his senses. He had a difficult 
 time adjusting his eyes to the shadows in the diminishing light, and he tripped over a few 
 protruding birch roots. Dontrelle paid little 
 attention to Leo as he maintained a steady 
 pace toward the creek. A sudden rustling in 
 the nearby trees made Leo jump. “What was 
 that?” he yelped. “Nothing to worry about—
 probably just a squirrel,” Dontrelle called 
 back in an attempt to calm Leo’s nerves.

It didn’t work—Leo’s breath became heavier
 and shorter with nervousness. Another noise 
 only exacerbated his anxiety. Leo darted, 
 to the left, to the right, circling 
 wide-eyed. “Is it a bear? Is it a bear?” 
 he huffed. Dontrelle stopped to look back. 
 “There are no bears here.” Just then a 
 fox peered from around a tree, its eyes 
 shining. “But there are foxes,” Dontrelle 
 added with a chuckle, pointing for Leo to see.

Leo screamed, dropped the fishing poles,
 and bolted farther into the woods. “Wait!” 
 Dontrelle shouted, dropping the container of
 worms as he chased after Leo. After a while, 
 Leo’s adrenaline rush had subsided, and he 
 doubled over in exhaustion. A fatigued 
 Dontrelle finally caught up to him, and both 
 of the boys tried to catch their breath. 
 “What’s the matter with you?” “I thought 
 that fox was going to attack me,” Leo gasped.

“Why would it want to do that? It’s more 
 afraid of you—especially now—and besides, 
 it was, like, 20 feet away, just passing 
 through, just like we were just passing 
 through to the creek.” After a pause, Leo 
 asked Dontrelle what had happened to the 
 fishing equipment. “Good question—I think 
 you ditched it about a mile back, along 
 with your bravery.” “Where are we?” Leo 
 asked, trying to change the topic.
 “Another outstanding question.”

“Would you knock it off? How was I supposed
 to know that the fox wouldn’t attack me? I’ve 
 never seen a fox before—except for one time 
 on TV; this hunter was hunting, and . . . and 
 . . . and he got mauled by a bear.” “A fox is 
 not a bear.” “I know that!” Leo shouted, 
 kicking some dirt in front of him. “Okay, okay. 
 Chill out.” “So, where are we now?”
 “I don’t know.”
 “What do you mean you ‘don’t know’?”

“I mean I haven’t been this far out 
 before, and with all of your zigzags, 
 I lost track of where we were.” 
 “Great. And it’ll be pitch black out 
 here any minute.” “That actually works 
 in our favor. We’ll be able to find our 
 way back more easily in the dark.” 
 “What are you talking about? How can we 
 get back when we can’t see?” “It’s 
 in the stars. Walk over to this clearing, 
 look up, and you’ll see.”

The Stars
 Leo looked up and saw a brilliant array of stars. His jaw 
 slackened. It was quite a sight. He had never seen such a dazzling sky in the city. With the buildings and the streetlights and smog, that kind of view was impossible.
 “Are the skies like this every night?” Leo asked.
 “Not on cloudy nights, but otherwise, yeah, it’s like this.”

The two boys gazed a little while longer, in awe, forgetting for a moment that they were lost. Finally, Leo asked, “So how are these stars supposed to help us?”
 “Simple—by reading them. By reading the constellations,” Dontrelle answered.
 “The what?” Leo asked, incredulous.
 “The constellations—the figures and symbols in the sky that have helped people find their way
for 6,000 years.”

“Are you crazy? All I see are white dots.”
 “Dots?” Dontrelle was about to shake his 
 head with disgust but then smiled with an 
 insight. “Yes, dots—exactly. All you need to 
 do is connect the dots and you’ll be able to 
 see a constellation. Want to try?” Dontrelle 
 pointed to a row of three stars in a diagonal 
 row. He explained to Leo that by connecting the 
 dots, he would see Orion’s belt. Dontrelle 
 added, “The stars above the belt make up his 
 chest, and the stars below it create his legs.”
 “No way.” “Orion was a great warrior. If you 
 really use your imagination, you’ll be able to 
 see that above his head, he’s holding a sword 
 as if poised to attack a beast.”

“Wow, I never learned any of this in school.
 I only learned that stars are far-away masses 
 of burning gas, like the sun.”“Seriously?”
 “Yeah, constellations are really cool, except
 I don’t see how they’ll help us get home,” 
 Leo muttered as he crossed his arms. “As I 
 was saying before, people have been using star 
 patterns for thousands of years. Fishermen, 
 that is, real fishermen, those who ride out 
 to sea on a ship, not those who drop their
 fishing poles when they see a tiny fox—”

“Hey!” Dontrelle bit his lip to restrain 
 his laughter. “Anyway, when fishermen were 
 out to sea, they’d look to Polaris—the 
 North Star—to navigate their ships because 
 it was always in the north. Some farmers, 
 even today, use Polaris’s relationship to
 the horizon to determine when to plant their
 crops and when to harvest them. But if you 
 can find the North Star, you’ll pretty much
 never be lost. The North Star is always in 
 the handle of the Little Dipper.”
 “The what?” asked Leo.

“Look.” Dontrelle pointed up to the sky. “See
 the four stars that make a cup and then a ladle
 attached to it? That’s the Big Dipper.” Once 
 Leo spotted it, Dontrelle explained that the two 
 stars on the end of the cup were aligned with a 
 bright star. That star, which begins the ladle
 of the Little Dipper, is Polaris, the North Star.

“So if we face that star,” Leo wondered 
 aloud, “we’ll be facing north?”
 Dontrelle nodded, and the two boys highfived
 each other, jubilant that they had some
 hope of finding their way back in the dark.
 The celebration didn’t last long, however.
 Dontrelle’s face grew sour as he realized
 that knowing where north was didn’t help. 
 He confessed that he didn’t know which 
 direction they came from.
 “Don’t worry,” Leo said. “When we started
 out on our expedition, I noticed that the sun 
 was setting in front of us.

I don’t see many sunsets back home, so it made 
 an impression on me. My science teacher told 
 us once that the sun always ‘sets in the 
 west,’ which sort of rhymes, so I remembered 
 it. When we left your house, we must have 
 been walking west, toward the setting sun. 
 To get back, we need to face north and walk 
 east—to the right.” Relief washed over 
 Dontrelle’s face. Leo continued, “I suspect 
 that at some point we’ll hit that creek of 
 yours. If we follow it back, still heading 
 east, we should come to your house, right?”

“You’re a genius!”
 Dontrelle and Leo were in high spirits. 
 The two had helped each other with their 
 respective knowledge. Both were excited 
 to get back and, since it was long past 
 dinnertime, they were both hungry. But 
 their excitement was short-lived.

More Noises
 After just a few minutes, the boys heard noises again. Leo 
 panicked. Dontrelle tried to calm him down, but Leo was far 
 too frightened. He began to breathe faster and dart around again. 
 Knowing that Leo could bolt at any moment, delaying their
 arrival time even further, Dontrelle distracted him with the 
 stars. “Did you know that there’s a constellation
named 
 after you?” “Stop it—I’m terrified that the fox is after 
 me again.” “Seriously. ‘Leo the Lion’ is a constellation.”
 The anxious fifth grader began to listen.
“Really?”

Dontrelle pointed toward the Big Dipper. “Remember that star on the tip 
 of the cup that pointed to the North Star? Find that same one, but 
 instead look south. See that bright white star, the one that looks almost 
 blue? That’s right in the middle of Leo’s chest. Some say it’s his heart.” 
 Leo followed Dontrelle’s gaze into the heavens. “Legend has it that 
 Leo the Lion had the toughest skin of all the great animals. It was 
 impenetrable, so he feared nothing.” Leo and Dontrelle stood in silence
 for a moment, regarding the lion in the sky. Finally, Leo felt he could 
 be brave like the lion and nodded to Dontrelle that he was ready to
continue.

The boys heard the creek before they saw it,
 but once they caught sight of it they ran to it,
 overjoyed. The two kicked water at each other
 and laughed. They had almost made it—now all
 they needed to do was to follow the creek home.
 The boys reoriented themselves one last time
 before starting to hike again. But their eager 
 steps were suspended in midair when they heard 
 a noise up ahead. The two froze and strained 
 their ears. Sweat began to bead on Leo’s forehead. 
 Dontrelle held his breath. Then it came from 
 behind the bushes—a fox, a mere five feet away.

Its long, bushy tail flicked back and forth.
 The fox furtively crept onto a rock in front 
 of them and slowly craned its neck down 
 toward the creek. Just before its tongue 
 touched the crisp water, Leo shifted his 
 weight onto his other foot, inadvertently 
 snapping a twig. The fox twisted its neck 
 over in Leo’s direction and locked eyes with 
 him. No one moved—neither boy nor beast. 
 Then Leo started walking toward the wild animal.

“What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
 Dontrelle whispered through his teeth.
 “I’m just passing through,” Leo 
 whispered back. “What? Why?” stammered
 Dontrelle. “It’s in the stars.” Leo 
 slowly walked toward the fox. After just 
 a few steps, the rust-colored animal 
 bounded away, across the creek and into 
 the woods. Dontrelle exhaled. “You are the 
 fearless lion.”“I suppose I am,” chuckled Leo.

Back Home
 When Dontrelle and Leo finally reached the
 house, their parents scolded them for their 
 lateness but were relieved that they were 
 safe. After a late dinner, Leo and his father 
 prepared for their drive back to the city. 
 Lucinda invited Leo to stay for the weekend, 
 but instead he asked whether she and Dontrelle 
 could visit them in the city. Lucinda promised
 they would. Leo extended his hand, and he and 
 Dontrelle shook, knowing they would have
 many more adventures together.

Leo the Lion

Written by David L. Dreier 
Illustrated by Stephen Marchesi

A Link With the Past 
With lunch over, a bored Debbie wandered
away from the campsite. “Don’t go far,” her
mother called after her as she cleaned off the
picnic table.
Debbie rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, Mom. 
I’m just gonna take a short walk.”
“Parents!” Debbie mumbled to herself. 
“Always worrying about every little thing.” At
the age of twelve, Debbie was quite able to look
after herself, thank you very much.

The girl strolled through a grove of fragrant
pine trees, going nowhere in particular. She came
to an overlook along the path and gazed across
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She saw
several distant mountain ranges, and a bluish
mist blanketed the valleys between the low,
forested mountains. “This must be the most
beautiful place in the world,” she sighed. “I
wish we could live here.”

Debbie walked to a grass-covered embankment 
and sat down at the base of a tree. She picked up a
stick and poked lazily at some loose soil by her feet. 
Suddenly she noticed a small brown object in the
turned-up dirt. She picked it up, rubbed it clean,
and examined it. It was some sort of stone point.
“Well, what have you there?” said a friendly
female voice. Startled, Debbie stood up. A young
woman in a park ranger’s uniform was smiling
down at her. She had a tan complexion and dark
hair tied in a long ponytail. 
Debbie held up the object. “I don’t know what
it is. Some pointed thing.”

The ranger reached forward and gently took
the object from the girl’s hand. She looked at it
and smiled—a bit sadly, Debbie thought. 
“It’s a flint arrowhead,” the ranger said, 
“probably made hundreds of years ago by
a Cherokee warrior.” 
“What’s a Cherokee?” Debbie asked, taking
the arrowhead back and rubbing it between her
fingers. 
“The Cherokees were Native American people
who once lived in these mountains. They were my
ancestors.

I’m half Cherokee on my mother’s side, 
and my name honors her family heritage— I’m
Anna High Cloud. What’s your name?” 
“Debbie Smith. You have a really pretty name.” 
“Thank you. My people have many interesting
names. And they have a very interesting—and often
sad—history. Would you like to hear about it?”
Debbie nodded. “Sure.” 
“Well, then,” said Anna, “make yourself
comfortable, because there’s quite a bit to tell.”
Debbie leaned back against the tree. Anna
adjusted her ranger hat, and then she began
her story.

Olden Times 
“Let’s make this as visual as we can,” Anna
said. “I want you to actually see the things I’m
telling you. Pretend you’re wearing magic glasses 
that let you fly into hidden places and see into
the past.” 
“Okay,” said Debbie. “This is going to be fun.” 
She adjusted her magic glasses with a smile. 
Anna pointed to the mist-shrouded mountains. 
“Now, look out across those mountains and then 
fly back into the past and down into a valley. 
You’re landing beside a beautiful rushing river— 
all clear and cold with a pebble bottom. Large fish
are darting through the water.” 
“I can see it,” Debbie exclaimed.

“Good. Now look around. There, near the bank
of the river, is a large Cherokee village: about fifty
houses made of tree branches and mud that look
like big, round, upside-down baskets. In the center
of the village is a large meeting house. You’re
looking at the way things were in the 1600s.” 
“More than a hundred people lived in this
village,” Anna continued. “It’s one of about two
hundred Cherokee villages in what became North
Carolina—where we are now—and a few other
southeastern states. There were more than twenty
thousand Cherokee people, divided into seven
large clans, or groups. The Cherokees had been
living in this area for about six hundred years,
since migrating from the north.”

Debbie nodded, her eyes fixed on the past. 
“These people didn’t call themselves
Cherokees,” Anna said. “That name came from
a word used by another Native American nation, 
the Creeks. The Creeks called my ancestors ‘the
Chelokee,' which means ‘People Who Speak
Differently.’ The”—she wiggled two fingers of
each hand in the air to make quote marks around
the next word— “‘Cherokees’ called themselves
the Principal People.”

Anna smiled. “Well, let’s see what’s going on
in the village. Oh, look, some men are coming
back from a hunt, carrying freshly killed deer on
poles. The older children are out picking wild
plants and berries. Many of the women are
working in the village farm, tending crops of
corn, beans, and squash.” 
Debbie could see it all, as though she were
watching a movie. 
The ranger’s voice grew wistful. “The
Cherokee people had a wonderful life in these
mountains. They believed that the Creator—the
Great Spirit, or God— would see to it that they
never had to leave.”

Treaties and More Treaties 
“Didn’t the Cherokees ever have wars?”
Debbie asked. 
“Yes, they did,” Anna replied. “I was just
getting to that. War was always an important part
of life. Nations fought with each other over land
and to settle disputes. But they also fought one
another just for the . . . the glory of it, I guess
you’d say. Bravery in battle was how a young
man made a name for himself. But the wars were
usually limited. Nations didn’t try to exterminate
one another.”
“However, things began to change when
Europeans started settling in America in large
numbers. That was in the early 1700s. Settlers
were hungry for land, and they wanted all native
people—including the Cherokees—removed.”

Anna spoke more quickly now. “The Cherokees
always tried to get along with the Europeans. They
fought them only when they felt they had no
choice. They signed one peace treaty after another,
hoping each time that it would bring peace.” 
“They signed the first treaties with the British, 
when they ruled North America. Then, later,
Cherokees signed treaties with the United States. 
Each treaty took more land away from the
Cherokees. Every time, they were promised that
they could have their remaining lands forever. 
But every time, the other side broke the treaty.” 
“How come?” Debbie asked.

“Because there were too many people who
wanted land—and because, at that time, many
people didn’t think of Native Americans as people
with rights. To them, the Cherokees and other
Native Americans were just a dangerous nuisance.” 
“So why did the Cherokees keep signing
treaties?” Debbie asked. 
“They had no choice. It was either sign a treaty
or go to war. So they signed. But one group of
Cherokees, the Chickamaugas, finally decided that
they would not sign any more treaties and continue
to give up more of their land. For about twenty
years, they fought settlers and soldiers.”

“Use your magic glasses and imagine hundreds 
of painted warriors shouting war cries as they
attack a settlement with rifles, bows and arrows,
and tomahawks.” 
Debbie shivered.
“By the late 1790s, the Chickamaugas’ fight for
land they believed was theirs was over. They gave
up their land and moved west into Arkansas, which
was ruled by Spain. The United States acquired the
territory a few years later. The Chickamaugas then
became part of the Western Cherokees who had
already settled there. After that, warfare between
the Cherokees and the Americans came to an end.”

An Amazing Change 
“So what happened next?” Debbie asked. 
“Well,” Anna replied, “have you heard the
expression ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’?”
Debbie shook her head back and forth. 
“It means that if you can’t defeat an opponent, 
you should change to become like your opponent,
so the two of you can get along. The Cherokees
still living in the East decided to change their way 
of life and become just like other Americans. They
thought that if they did that, people would accept
them and let them keep their remaining land.” 
“Did they change?” Debbie asked.
Anna nodded and smiled. “They sure did. 
Many Cherokees became successful plantation
farmers and lived like the settlers. They also
adopted the new American culture in other ways.”

Debbie was fascinated. “What other ways?” 
“The Cherokees built schools and established
a system of courts. A Cherokee man named
Sequoyah invented a type of alphabet for the
Cherokee language, and most Cherokees learned to
read. The Cherokees then published a newspaper
and books in their own language. They even wrote
a constitution for all their people, who called
themselves the Cherokee Nation. When they had
accomplished all this, they were very proud. They
said to themselves, ‘Surely, now, the people of the
United States will let us live in peace.’”

Sequoyah’s
Accomplishment 
Sequoyah (sih-KWOY-uh),
who was half Cherokee, 
was born in about 1770. He
single-handedly invented
a new system of writing. 
He spent twelve years
developing his writing
system. The system is a
syllabary (SIL-uh-bare-ee) 
that uses eighty-six symbols
to represent all the syllables
in the spoken Cherokee
language.

Final Defeat 
Anna gazed for a few moments at the misty
mountains, the cherished homeland of her
ancestors. “Well, now we’re coming to the saddest
part of the story,” she said.
Debbie had suspected the tale might end badly 
and sat down with Anna next to the tree. “What
happened?” 
“Even though the Cherokees did everything
they could to become like other Americans, it
was useless. In 1830, Congress passed a law
called the Indian Removal Act.

The law required
the Cherokees and four other tribes in the
southeastern United States to move to a western
area called the Indian Territory. They were given
eight years to move themselves and all their
possessions.”
“That was so unfair!” 
“Yes, it was. The Cherokees decided to fight— 
but this time with lawyers. They went to the U.S.
Supreme Court seeking protection, and the
Supreme Court sided with them.” 
“So they got to stay?”

“No. The president of the United States, 
Andrew Jackson, refused to enforce the Supreme
Court decision. He was in favor of making the
Cherokees and the other tribes leave the eastern
United States. So the Cherokees decided to make
one last try for justice.” 
“What did they do?”
“They made a direct appeal to President Jackson. 
In 1834, a man named John Ross went to see the
president. Even though Ross was only one-eighth
Cherokee, he was deeply committed to the
Cherokees, and he was their most important chief.”

“Andrew Jackson was a stern-looking man. He
was more than six feet tall, with bushy gray hair
swept back from his forehead. John Ross was a
short fellow, only five-and-a-half feet tall. But he
made up for his lack of height with an unshakable
conviction that his cause was right. Picture them
meeting in Jackson’s office in the White House.” 
“Okay,” said Debbie, with another adjustment
of her invisible glasses. 
“Jackson and Ross made polite conversation
for a few minutes. Then they discussed the matter
at hand. Ross insisted that the Indian Removal Act
was wrong. He urged Jackson to let the Cherokees
stay on their land and to protect them with U.S.
troops. Jackson listened but said very little.”

“Ross thought he might have persuaded the
president to do as he asked, but then his hopes were
shattered. Jackson said that the Cherokees must go
to the Indian Territory, and he wouldn’t budge from
that position. The fate of the Cherokees was sealed.” 
“In 1838, the deadline for the Cherokees to
depart voluntarily for the Indian Territory arrived. 
Most of the Cherokees had refused to leave, so U.S.
troops pulled them out of their homes. Mobs
burned their houses and stole their cattle and
possessions.” 
“This is just awful,” Debbie said.

“It gets worse,” Anna replied. “The Cherokees
were put in stockades—temporary prisons. Then
they were shipped west on riverboats and in
railroad boxcars. For the last eight hundred miles
of the journey, they had to walk. All along the way, 
they were robbed and cheated by anyone who had
a chance to do so.” 
“Food supplies from the government were
sometimes stolen. Many people got sick from
hunger and from unsanitary living conditions. Of
the eighteen thousand Cherokees who started the
long journey, more than four thousand died before
reaching the Indian Territory. Many of the dead
were simply left at the side of the road.”

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